Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a traditional, secular figure of Christmas good cheer, generally depicted as a jolly fat, old man in a red suit. Other nations have their own variations, such as Father Christmas in England and Sinterklaas in the Netherlands. Santa has appeared in several Muppet/''Sesame Street'' specials over the years, portrayed by different human actors and occasionally depicted as a Muppet. Muppet characters have sometimes felt the urge to don the familiar beard as well. Santa also appeared in the non-muppet special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Santa Claus as a character Characters dressing as Santa Claus Santa Claus in books relaxes with Santa and Mrs. Claus in Big Bird Meets Santa Claus]] Santa Claus appears in a number of [[Christmas Books|Muppet and Sesame Street books]], including: *''A Sesame Street Christmas'' *''The Amazing Mumford Forgets the Magic Words!'' *''Baby Kermit's Christmas'' *''Big Bird Meets Santa Claus'' *''Big Bird's Red Book'' *''Elmo's Night Before Christmas'' *''Muppet Christmas Eve'' *''Santa Visits the Big Blue House'' *''Elmo's Christmas Countdown'' The Sesame characters visit Santa Claus at P.C. Nickles Department Store in: *''I Can't Wait Until Christmas'' *''Merry Christmas, Everybody!'' Muppet characters also pretend to be Santa in other books: *Baby Fozzie in Ho-Ho-Ho, Baby Fozzie *Cookie Monster in Pop Goes the Santa! *Kermit the Frog in A Very Muppet Christmas References * In the lyrics of "Can You Picture That" from The Muppet Movie, Floyd Pepper and Janice sing that "even Santa Claus believes in you." * In an early version of "The People in Your Neighborhood," an Anything Muppet claims that, with a fireman's hat on, he could be Santa Claus. * In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Oscar asks Big Bird and Patty how Santa Claus can deliver presents on Christmas Eve if he can't fit through the narrow chimneys on Sesame Street. Kermit and Grover interview various kids on the subject trying to help solve the mystery. Eventually, Big Bird decides to stay up all night on the roof to wait for Santa Claus. Although jingle bells and footsteps are heard when Big Bird falls asleep, Santa Claus is not actually seen. Meanwhile, Cookie Monster tries repeatedly to write a letter to Santa Claus, and speaks to him by shouting into his belly after having eaten the telephone on which he had dialed Santa's number. * In Muppets from Space, Gonzo hears a voice outside his window when he wakes up. Approaching, he asks, "Rizzo?" Rizzo replies, "No, it's Santa. But I forgot my reindeer." Connections The following actors, who have appeared in Muppet/Henson productions, have portrayed Santa in other film or television appearances. *Ed Asner voiced Santa in The Story of Santa Claus (1996, TV) and Olive the Other Reindeer (1999, TV) and appeared on camera as Santa in The Ellen Show (2001, TV) and Elf (2003, film). *Fred Astaire played Santa in The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (TV, 1979). *Mel Brooks voiced Santa in an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron (2002, TV). *David Canary played Santa in Secret Santa (1994, TV). *Art Carney reprised the role of Santa in The Night They Saved Christmas (1984, TV). *Charles Durning played Santa in several TV movies: It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989), Mrs. Santa Claus (1996), Mr. St. Nick (2002), and A Boyfriend for Christmas (2004). *Paul Frees voiced Santa in the Rankin/Bass TV specials Frosty the Snowman (1969), The First Easter Rabbit (1976), and Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976). *Gilbert Gottfried voiced Santa in Billy and Mandy Save Christmas (2005, TV) *John Goodman voiced Santa in the video Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998), a Robot Santa in Futurama (199, TV), and played the part in The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006, TV). *James Earl Jones voiced Santa Claus in an episode of Recess (1997, TV) *Bruce Kirby played Santa in A Different Kind of Christmas (1996, TV) *Stuart Pankin played Santa in an episode of The Hughleys (1998, TV) *Gerry Parkes played a retiring Santa Claus in Must Be Santa (1999, TV) *Austin Pendleton played a streetcorner Santa in Christmas with the Cranks (2004, film) *William Shatner voiced Santa in It's a Very Merry Eek's-mas (1993, TV) *Jeffrey Tambor voiced Santa in The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas (2007) *Peter Ustinov played Santa in Julie's Christmas Special (1973, TV) *Frank Welker voiced Santa in A Chipmunk Christmas (1981, TV) *George Wendt played Santa in A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (2008, TV) Category:Puppet Characters Category:Muppet Characters Category:Human Characters Category:Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Characters Category:Sesame Street Specials Characters Category:Christmas Characters